Sunday, December 14, 2014

1) From a business perspective, it's over2) Its been dead in the water since 3 miles island and Chernobyl3) The claim is climate change, but nuke is only 6% of world power, and climate people say it would have to be 20% to have any substantial effect. 4) That would mean 1600 new plants, and replace 400 existing5) That would be 3 new plants every month for 40 years to get to 20%, and by then climate change would have run its course6) We have no way to deal with the waste7) Recycling fuel, aka MOX leaves lots of plutonium around in an age of uncertainty and terrorism8) Uranium is getting more scarce and 2025 to 2035 will see big shortages and thus high prices9) We don't have the water. In France 40% of all the fresh water in the country is needed just to cool the reactors, and that water comes out hot which further exasperates ecological problems.

10) Plus the nuclear asshats have been lying through their teeth right out of the gate, its all based on lies to protect "their precious"

I am writing to you about the death of the Pacific Ocean. No baby whale has lived over the age of one year. Tens of thousands of otters, seals, walruses and whales have exhibited lesions, hemorrhaging, and wasting diseases. The starfish are virtually extinct. Birds drop from the sky. The seafloor is littered with thousands of decomposing fish and mammals. All of you have at some point expressed concern and bafflement as to what might be causing the extinction of all life in the Pacific Ocean. I am not a scientist, but one does not need a scientific background to understand the sea star, sea lion, sea urchin, whale and sea life die off in the Pacific. One just needs the courage to address the mutated elephant in the room: Fukushima.

Three coriums have melted through the containment vessels and into the earth, creating a fission process and China Syndrome nightmare can never be resolved. At the very beginning, TEPCO admitted that they would solve this only after they had invented the technology to do so, stating their best estimate date for this “invention” was ten years. There is no sarcophagus, allowing huge concentrations of radiation to seep into the earth, water and air unchecked for almost four years. TEPCO has admitted that it has been dumping radioactive water into the Pacific from the beginning. Well, they admitted it and lied about it at the same time- typical TEPCO speak. Every few months or years they revise their estimates to admit far more radiation contaminated the environment than previously admitted. Japan has burned radioactive waste for years, sending even more radiation into the jet stream.

You may have noticed in the news that just three weeks after the Fukushima coriums began their decent toward the earth, Fukushima isotopes were found in spinach, strawberries and arugula in Northern California and in the milk in Vermont. Fukushima isotopes were also found in the sea kelp in Northern California and Canada, at which point both the US and Canadian governments stopped the monitoring, at least officially. Anaheim, CA had highest amount of radioactive iodine-131 measured by any EPA air monitoring station in Continental U.S. (http://enenews.com/anaheim-ca-has-highest-amount-of-radioac…) Uranium-234 was detected in Hawaii, Southern California and Seattle. Conveniently, the link at the EPA site has disappeared, but you can see a copy of the EPA RadNet Air Concentration Measurement Data here:http://enenews.com/uranium-234-detected-hawaii-southern-cal…

You might also note that one of the commentators (Radio) wrote, “Why are there pages of data in the report, yet only the very first page contains any numbers for Uranium and plutonium?? Additionally, the uranium is reported around the 21-24th of March, but there are no numbers for Uranium after that, even though the numbers for Iodine and Cesium continue up until last week…” And now the report is gone. How convenient. “I see nothing!”

Radiation was in the water and soil from the beginning of this disaster. It’s not about waiting for it to arrive. It was here within a week of 3/11 and that was documented by official sources at the very beginning. I own a little bookstore and coffeehouse in Nicaragua and I seem to know more about Fukushima than the marine biologists studying the die-off of the Pacific. How sad. It is evident from your biographies that you care passionately about the ocean. However, I don’t think you really care about the consequences of the die off because you are afraid to mention the infamous F word and for that, all of your years of study and activism have gone to waste because you don’t have the courage to state the obvious.

The common denominator is Fukushima. Organisms that have survived 450 million years of earth changes, ocean acidification and temperature changes, pole shifts, comets and who knows what else are now virtually extinct. Maybe there is a virus, but a virus does not attack all organisms with 100 percent morbidity and when viruses mutate, they become weaker. All mutations encounter risks when jutting, which is why most mutations end in failure and the virus naturally weakens. And a virus still needs a host to survive, and yet we are looking at 100 percent morbidity rates. What changed?

To claim that you do not understand why this is happening is absurd. You can speak up or become part of the cover-up and responsible for extinguishing life on this planet. There is no gray area. Only when people realize the seriousness of the situation will anything be done about it. And many people do understand, even if you are “baffled” and “mystified” as to why the Pacific Ocean is dying. And you would, too, had you not collectively and conveniently ignored headlines like, “Japan Gov’t-funded Report: MOX fuel particles found over 100 km from Fukushima — Plutonium-239 levels ‘significantly enhanced’ after Reactor 3 explosion - Nuclear fuel material transported in atmosphere across long distances;

Fukushima Worker: They’re covering up how much contamination is flowing into ocean; Scientist: We are measuring higher radiation levels off Japan — Plume near California already exceeds expectations, and will keep rising for years to come; Cleanup can’t be done… They lied from the start, Tepco is a den of inequity; Officials have “admitted failure” at Fukushima plant — Giving up on attempts “to prevent highly contaminated water from pouring into ocean”;

Canadian scientists detect “significant” concentrations of radioactive material off West Coast, levels double in months since last test; Marine Chemist: “Much greater concern” over Fukushima releases that will be hitting shores of US & Canada - Lack of data “really disturbing”; ‘Fukushima radiation identified off northern California’ — 50% of samples around West Coast test positive; Nuclear Expert: Fukushima is a pretty close approximation of ‘The China Syndrome’; Melted fuel cores burned through containment vessels and material is below reactor structures mixing with groundwater — Essentially it’s a machine that’s washing radioactivity into the sea; Food products ‘heavily contaminated’ by Fukushima found in US;

Over 30,000 pCi/kg of cesium, also had Cobalt-60 and Antimony-124 — FDA: We found no Fukushima contamination in US food supply during routine monitoring; Radiation levels have surged at Fukushima plant — 100,000% of previous record high — TV: “Officials say they don’t know the cause… Typhoon may be to blame”; Sailor talks Fukushima’s Impact on Pacific: “It’s dead… for thousands of miles there was nothing” between US & Japan — “Like sailing in a dead sea… everything’s all gone. No birds, no fish, no sharks, no dolphins, no turtles, nothing”;

By the way, for a mere $725. on Amazon, you can purchase the Radiation Alert InspectorEXP Microprocessor-Based Ionizing Radiation Detector with External Detector (http://www.amazon.com/Radiation-Alert-Inspect…/…/ref=sr_1_2…). I have one and I don’t have the need for one - yet. I use it to test my blueberries that I import from the US and I will start monitoring the fish on the southern Pacific Coast of Nicaragua.

Perhaps you could just charge one to your department and use it the next time you examine the dead aquatic specimens. You may be quite surprised how bad it is. The sea lion and whales dying of brain lesions, birds dropping from the sky, and the wasting sea stars are all victims of Fukushima. There are no ifs, buts or possibilities about it. It is fact, whether you admit to it or bury your heads in the sand for a paycheck. It is imperative that we shut down all nuclear power plants around the world immediately. Nuclear power plants rely on external fuel sources to generate electricity, and most have less than four days back up diesel. No fuel for the generators will cause the NPPs to melt down. You may have also noticed that the majority of NPPs are located on active fault lines, flood zones and coastal areas subject to tsunamis. Germany shut down their plants because of Fukushima, but an assortment of malevolent entities in competition for Master of Universe (or at least the Earth) want to build more of these death traps while having no way to store the waste for the next several million years. It is also imperative that you tell the truth, regardless of whether a government or corporate entity tells you to lie.

If you lie and say you don’t understand why the ocean is dying, you are not a scientist; you are a lowly sycophant who sold your integrity, ethics and soul for a paycheck. I don’t mean to be rude, but this situation is too serious to worry about hurting someone’s ego. You know the truth, even if you don’t want to admit it. And if after all these years of study you are still stupefied, then you should be stripped of your credentials and return every penny that you have ever received from any government and private organization through grants, scholarships and employment, for you have sold out the planet and all of its life forms with your complicity of silence.

To claim that you don’t understand and are baffled and puzzled by this “mystery” shows the depths of your ignorance or your desperate need to maintain employment with organizations that actively lie about the effects of Fukushima. At some point you have to stand up for what is right and true.

I am sorry if your egos are hurt, but my heart hurts each time I read your quotes that fail to address the greatest problem our civilization has ever known. You may choose to be silent, but I will not be complicit in the genocide of the planet, regardless of hurt feelings.

"State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies; and this lie slips from its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people.'" - Friedrich Nietzsche

Sincerely, Kelly Ann Thomas

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dana Durnford was a commercial SCUBA diver. His story is very interesting, he was injured in an accident, had a long recovery and is still in a wheelchair, yet he is, as a one man show, inventorying the coast of Canada for sea life, in a wheelchair, got it? This link was submitted by a reader below And another reader submitted this one, about how polar vortec can contribute to more radiation affecting us

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Drop a comment folks, and also sign up as a follower on the right side, Mahalo!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When a technology fails...insiders who stand to benefit decide to trot out something similar but with a "this time it's different" flair. Whenever a lie spotter sees the "this time its different" approach, they ramp up their spidey sense.

In the past, nuclear plants have taken advantage of economies of scale by placing multiple nuke plants next to each other. They can benefit from economies of scale by such things as a common perimeter defense system, a common overall security system, a common pool of skilled scientists and top level technical people, a common pool of trained mechanics and technicians, a common pool of transportation and receiving facilities, a common pool of electrical distribution to the consumer, a common pool of backup electrical and other cooling systems.

Small "modular" nuclear reactors will NOT benefit from any of these economies of scale.

But since big plants blow up, sometimes in nuclear type explosions like the prompt moderated criticality at Fukushima 3 building (we are not sure if it was the MOX filled spent fuel pool, of the MOX filled reactor itself). But since big plants blow up.....the nuclear cartel proposes that smaller and more widespread nuclear will be safer.

To state the obvious, the SMRs or small modular reactors, will not have the same ability to field resources for security, operational expertise, local engineering expertise, and maintenance expertise.

And a Carrington event which might knock out 20 large plants in a geographic area like the east coast, and cause evacuations from specific areas as they melt down. Well if the area was peppered with the joke of SMR, there would be less backup power and a widespread sacrifice zone that people would not be able to drive out of without taking a "husky" and eventually deadly dose.

THE WHOLE ABSURDITY OF MAKE THEM SMALLER MAKES THEM SAFER, is a joke, a massive lie of the dying Bronto, the nuclear industry. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Look at this promoter below, everything we need to be against, is everything he is promoting without fact or argument.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A bunch of things are having to be rethought. Things that we thought were against green, like nuclear and bio-technology and even geo-engineering are, in light of climate, actually now green,” Brand said.

______________________________________________________________ And finally I propose a new thoery that will alienate even the few UK citizens who used to come to the Nukepro. The more desperate a "Failed Empire" is, the more they refuse to look at the truth.

See below, pageviews at Nukepro for Tuesday. Note that UK is not even on the list. I get more visitors from Romania than the entire UK, more visitors from South Korea.

The UK is so effed up, they refuse to even look at the truth. Think Sellafield. They don't even have the cajones to leave the European Union which is also failed.

If you know anyone in the UK send them some blue pills, point them to nukepro and ENENEWS

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Quick report here. Drop a comment folks, and sign up as a follower, right on the right hand side of the blog.

Very interesting findings on my last airplane flight. It was during the day, so good lighting, and no adjacent passengers, so I could do plenty of Geiger testing without getting anyone upset.

I have video and pictures are will place these into a post at Nukepro when I can

There was considerable radiation differences in different areas on the flight path, and at the same cruising altitude. Basically 11 CPS to 15 CPS. CLICKS PER SECOND! not per minute, per second!

The upper atmosphere is FULL of radiation. Much more so than 20 years ago. Cosmic radiation is various stuff, and what you will pick up on an Inspector Geiger will be gamma. There is no beta radiation in Cosmic.

A few centimeters of flesh will stop all Beta radiation

By putting the Pancake Style Geiger on my leg, I can effectively block all beta coming from the "downside". Beta from the "upside" will still hit the Geiger tube, so I can block half the Beta

In multiple repeated tests the readings quickly ramped down from 15 CPS to 11 CPS doing the Leg Beta Blocker test routine <LBB>(TM stock 2014). This is a delta of 4 CPS due to Beta being blocked on one side of the pancake geiger.

Since I was blocking 50% of the Beta with the flesh of my leg (or stomach as shown in the video), this means there is 2 times 4 CPS beta in the aircraft. 8 CPS Beta, of 480 CPM Beta inside the air of the airplane. I see.

Here are 2 videos shot back to back that shows the massive Beta reduction using "body shielding".

This is 13 CPS, Clicks per second. A normal background radiation level in modern days is 25 CPM Clicks per minute. Do you see an issue here?

This is a different display mode on the Radiation Alert Inspector, it shows micro Sv per hour, based on assumption of Cesium as the isotope. At 4 mSv/H there is a real risk of cancer if exposed for 90 days, see the table below. Flight crews are in danger.

Craig-123 from ENENEWS contributed the following information

This other site did more like a "data logging" using altitude, but claimed it all to be cosmic, which is gamma and Xrays

Taken together, the documents provide a window into a culture of oversight at the lab that, in the race to clean up the waste, had so broken down that small missteps sometimes led to systemic problems.

Even before the waste was treated at Los Alamos, mistakes had been made that could have been instrumental in causing the accident at WIPP. Emails between WIPP contractors involved in the leak investigation indicate that something as simple as a typographical error in a revision of LANL’s procedural manual for processing waste containing nitrate salts may have precipitated a switch from inorganic clay kitty litter to the organic variety.

And for two years preceding the February incident, the lab refused to allow inspectors conducting annual permitting audits for the New Mexico Environment Department inside the facility where waste was treated. Only since the radiation leak has the Environment Department demanded that it go inside the facility for inspections.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.U7QN1Dse.dpuf

Taken together, the documents provide a window into a culture of oversight at the lab that, in the race to clean up the waste, had so broken down that small missteps sometimes led to systemic problems.

Even before the waste was treated at Los Alamos, mistakes had been made that could have been instrumental in causing the accident at WIPP. Emails between WIPP contractors involved in the leak investigation indicate that something as simple as a typographical error in a revision of LANL’s procedural manual for processing waste containing nitrate salts may have precipitated a switch from inorganic clay kitty litter to the organic variety.

And for two years preceding the February incident, the lab refused to allow inspectors conducting annual permitting audits for the New Mexico Environment Department inside the facility where waste was treated. Only since the radiation leak has the Environment Department demanded that it go inside the facility for inspections.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.U7QN1Dse.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf

“This is direct contradiction of DOE/NNSA policy and what we believed in,” Chiou wrote to Franco, Bryson and others. “It is most important that we have the information (regardless official or unofficial) so that we as [the Carlsbad Field Office of the Energy Department] can make better informed decisions as best we could. However, it may not work that way as it seems. … I hope that we can do better in getting relevant information from LANL so we can make a better decision for the WIPP project.”

After a conference call with LANL officials, WIPP decision-makers on May 30 sent workers in protective suits into the room to collect samples. But a June 17 report by LANL personnel based at WIPP found the intense underground flare may have destabilized up to 55 more drums of waste that were in close proximity to Waste Drum 68660 when it ruptured, calling into question whether they, too, had become poised to burst.

“[The high heat event] may have dried out some of the unreacted oxidizer-organic mixtures increasing their potential for spontaneous reaction,” the report said. “The dehydration of the fuel-oxidizer mixtures caused by the heating of the drums is recognized as a condition known to increase the potential for reaction.”

Keeping secrets

Frustrations over LANL’s reluctance to share what it knew about Waste Drum 68660 had been percolating at WIPP long before the discovery of the memo that suggested the drum contained all the ingredients of a patented plastic explosive.

A May 5 email between WIPP employee James Willison and federal contractor Fran Williams suggested LANL was reluctant to acknowledge the most basic details about what Waste Drum 68660 held.

“LANL used a wheat-based kitty litter rather than clay-based kitty litter as a stabilizer,” Willison wrote. “They fessed up after we nailed down the general area. … At least now we know.”

“Wow,” Williams responded. “How bad is that?”

On paper, the volatile combination of contents inside the drum that burst were not evident to experts who reviewed them because they were not included in the list of ingredients Los Alamos is required to generate for regulatory purposes and to assure the waste is stable enough to be accepted at WIPP.

- See more at: http://www.lasg.org/press/2014/SFNM_16Nov2014.html#sthash.OyAxVRJE.dpuf